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If Jared Cowen's career is now back on track, the about-face could ultimately be traced back to last Friday's practice.

Already on edge from having sat out three games as a healthy scratch, the big Senators defenceman engaged in a fight with teammate Chris Neil. The next day, Cowen ended a 38 game goal-less drought, dropped the gloves for the first time this season (with an opponent) and finished plus-2 in the 5-3 win over Winnipeg.

On Monday morning, Neil denied he was trying to deliver a wakeup call to Cowen - even if it is what he did.

"We had a hard practice and it was an intense drill," Neil said, talking publically about the incident for the first time. "It was just one of those things, he caught me with a cross check and I didn't like it, I let him know with a whack, and he slashed me back. The rest is history.

"Cowie is a competitive guy. He wanted to get back in the lineup. It showed that he cares, and I care 100 per cent. It's like growing up with four boys in the family. With my brothers, there would always be a couple of fights a week.

"I'm not saying that was the reason, but he had a great game the next day."

Cowen showed he can take a good punch as he absorbed a number of them to his face from Jets tough-guy Anthony Peluso. As former Senator Denny Lambert once said, it's not whether you win or lose a fight, but that you show up. If Cowen shows up more often, he and the Senators will benefit.

"Cowie is going to be a great player in this league for a long time," said Neil. "For him, he's got to play big like that. He showed that he can. He fought one of the toughest guys in the league, in Peluso, and he hung in there. Hat goes off to him.

"I look at Cowie, he's a strong kid, and he's got to play like that. Be a physical presence, not afraid to drop the gloves at any time. It makes the other team scared to play against him."

Why hasn't someone explained that to the 23-year old Cowen earlier?

"Sometimes as a veteran guy you can say stuff like that, but with Cowie, he's a guy that has to figure it out himself," said Neil. "He needs to play like that. It makes us a tougher team to play against when he's like that. When he's feared, the other teams don't want to go to the front of the net and it helps our goaltending out."

STARTS AND STOPS

At this time of the year, with what's on the line for them, there's no way the Senators should be outworked. But, at least for the first 40 minutes Monday, that's exactly what happened. Again "¦ The line of Colin Greening-Zack Smith and Neil had the puck in the Predators zone for the first 45 seconds of the game, but the Senators didn't get their first shot on goal until Jason Spezza's wrist shot was stopped by Pekka Rinne at the 5:01 mark. They were trailing 14-2 in shots at one point, but narrowed the gap to 16-7 by the first intermission ... How tough is Craig Anderson? Dinged on both shoulders in Winnipeg, he withstood the beating and lifted the Senators to victory. Against the Predators, he was felled by a blast to the left shoulder from Shea Weber (arguably the hardest shooter in the league) at the 7:15 mark of the first. He stayed in, however, and kept the Senators alive when they could have been cooked after one "¦ The Senators were down to five defenceman for the rest of the night when Cody Ceci was he was hit by a slap shot from Weber (that guy should be illegal, no?) shortly after Anderson went down. The report on Ceci was that he suffered a laceration behind the right ear. "¦ Senators dodged an early bullet when Erik Karlsson fell at his own blue line and Mike Fisher wound up with a breakaway, but rather than shoot the former Senator inexplicably passed the puck to the side boards.

BETWEEN PERIODS

It's a long and good debate, but all things considered, the answer is yes - I would trade Karlsson for Weber, straight up. Defence wins championships, and right now Nashville's No. 6 plays it much better than Ottawa's 65 "¦ Over eager linesmen stopped a Neil-Rich Clune first period fight before it could really get started. For that, they should be reprimanded "¦ Making his second appearance at Canadian Tire Centre since being traded from the Senators to the Predators, Fisher figured it would be a lot easier than the first one, when he admitted to fighting back tears as the team paid tribute to him with a highlight clip on the video board of his days here. "The fans (in Ottawa) have always been good to me, maybe better than they should have been," Fisher said Monday morning. Truth is, after Daniel Alfredsson, he is the most popular player in Senators history.

MY BUTT ENDS

After ending a scoreless tie with a deflection at the 28:20 mark of a tense and tight game, Nick Spaling's goal celebration was weak "¦ It will not be measured in Wednesday's skills contest, but Mike Hoffman has to have the deepest voice on the team "¦ Broadcasters around the league are a little nervous over the arrival of Washington Capitals forward Evgeny Kuznetsov. It's a name they do not want to mispronounce "¦ L.A.'s Jordan Nolan deserved to be suspended for his sucker punch on Edmonton's Jesse Joensuu Sunday, but how did Jeff Carter get away with a similar act in the same game? Oh yeah, because of the special treatment reserved for star players, that's how.

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Ottawa Senators' Cowen wakes up

If Jared Cowen's career is now back on track, the about-face could ultimately be traced back to last Friday's practice.

Already on edge from having sat out three games as a healthy scratch, the big Senators defenceman engaged in a fight with teammate Chris Neil. The next day, Cowen ended a 38 game goal-less drought, dropped the gloves for the first time this season (with an opponent) and finished plus-2 in the 5-3 win over Winnipeg.

On Monday morning, Neil denied he was trying to deliver a wakeup call to Cowen - even if it is what he did.